It’s been ages since I’ve posted a random post – which is no surprise since I usually fill them up with “random” content which I record on my day to day outings. But this year has been completely different – leaving the house has been (for one reason or another) a rare event and so I’ve never really amassed enough content to assemble a full post. It’s also been a little quiet too – I’ve actually been more busy than ever, so it’s hard to find the time to blog.

But seeing as Christmas has come and gone, there really are only a few more days left of 2020 and I think this will be both a year to remember, as well as one many would probably hope to forget. Time to see out the year with a little bit of introspection and a bit of random.

Oh What a Year!

When the year first began, I don’t think anyone could have quite foreseen just how it would have ended. The pandemic would get its “real” name of COVID-19 and explode in a way which has just about touched every country on the planet. While I initially watched the numbers daily on Worldometer (and other websites) starting at several thousands, the numbers have now grown to the stage where it’s hard to comprehend just how big of an impact this virus has had and looking at the global or country-level figures just seems meaningless.

In saying this, the virus has definitely changed the world in many ways. The aviation industry took a big hit as borders shut internationally and even between states. Tourism ground to a halt. Even air-cargo capacity became limited as greater demand for online shopping deliveries were met with a significant reduction in capacity. Some airlines went broke or ended up being sold (Virgin), while customers grappled with the frustration of chasing airlines for travel credits which they may never be able to spend. The economy, of course, took a big hit with this and even traditionally “safer” industries such as education (of which I am in) have had to undergo a number of changes to remain afloat given the loss of international student intake. The government stepped in providing welfare in the form of Jobkeeper and Jobseeker subsidies, which ended up causing their own problems, but at least it has “cushioned” the shock (at least, to the official unemployment metrics).

In return, we have been asked for the first time in my (relatively short) living memory to curtail our movements where necessary and comply with restrictions about gatherings which have unfortunately returned just around Christmas. Hand sanitiser is now commonplace and mask usage is now advised even though this was not the case at the beginning of the pandemic. While these controls have only been (at last) shown to be effective, compliance on a voluntary basis still remains patchy which is unfortunate. It seems that people still value their individual freedoms and may be finding it difficult to fully comply even though it is probably in the best interests of society as a whole. Testing for COVID-19 has been an ongoing effort with contact tracing to try and ensure any outbreaks are contained, but technology in the form of the COVIDSafe app has still yet to show its utility.

Technology was well-and-truly a saviour, allowing many business operations to continue through the use of videoconferencing technologies. Zoom for example, became a “household” term, as did terms such as zoom-fatigue. But this only works when our internet infrastructure is capable and it seems the initial weeks saw issues with residential connection times to NBN blowing out and performance being patchy on a number of platforms, be it Zoom, WebEx, Teams, etc. Even those who had resisted the technology still managed to make it – dragged by the team to the 21st century or limping their way there through the back-up dial-in numbers. The ailing PC/laptop market along with accessories such as LCD monitors, webcams and headsets saw a major boost with shortages expected to last through to 2022, showing that if you need to get work done, you need a real computer.

Working-from-home became a fact of life and seems to be something that might stay, at least partially, as many have realised the benefits that arise from not needing to waste time commuting and the flexibility to get work done while mixing in the other responsibilities of life. Best of all, for introverts like myself, being at home was now “normalised” and was the right thing to do given the circumstances. Where we need to work from “work”, there is now a lot more paperwork and the obligatory QR code “check-in” system which has now become a quasi-standard.

As such, we end this year with the knowledge that scientists have been working hard, racing each other to try and deliver a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Given the urgency, this would be the record fastest vaccine development in history, but also involves new mRNA vaccine technologies in the mix. Clinical trials have been conducted and impressive figures for effectiveness above 90%, approaching 95%, have already emerged along with emergency use authorisation in a number of countries. Even Australia is planning the logistics necessary for a roll-out beginning in March, so perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel is nearing, but the virus has recently mutated further with several strains seemingly showing higher virulence. Perhaps the battle is not over yet, and the damage to the economy is going to remain with us for the better part of a decade. Just look at the record-low interest rates.

All of this was perhaps more important in the USA where they have led the global leaderboard in terms of COVID-19 cases and deaths for a long time. There were attempts by President Trump to claim credit for vaccine development and discredit the result of their election where he lost both the election and his legal challenges in a landslide. This, coupled with a fake-news fuelled Twitter rampage intended to rile up his supporters, amounted to what would be perhaps a direct attack on democracy itself. But I think the world in general is pleased to see a change in leadership.

In spite of this, it seems that the technology world has continued to trundle along – this year seeing the release of the AMD Ryzen 5000-series CPUs and Radeon RX 6000-series, Nvidia RTX3000-series GPUs, Sony Playstation 5, Microsoft Xbox Series X and Apple’s Macbook Air/Pro and Mac Mini with M1 chip just to name a few of the major releases. A number of these releases have been plagued by a shortage of stocks which have been exploited by scalpers looking to turn a profit. This year has also seen the bungled launch of CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 which has been suffering performance issues on older console platforms and numerous bugs despite a number of delays and assurances that it would be released when it is ready. This has turned into a bit of a nightmare for the company, especially as opinion has turned on the company and many platforms are offering refunds.

How Have I Been Doing?

In spite of the pandemic, things have been trucking along without all that much of change in my world. As an introvert that usually is a bit of a homebody, the pandemic didn’t change all that much about the way I go about my work. Academics like myself have been enjoying the freedom of (informal) remote work for a number of years, as we realise that it is the delivered work that matters and not where/when/how you get it done. Instead, we prioritise working-from-work for those instances where we need that face-to-face contact to meet a client or for a team meeting. Those have instead transitioned to online mechanisms in a nearly flawless way.

Early in the year, I didn’t recognise the seriousness of the pandemic and went on an overseas holiday as I had booked the annual leave from the year before along with the tickets and one of my close friends were getting wed in Fukuoka, Japan regardless. I’d have to say that journey lasted all of eight days and resulted in logistical nightmare to try and navigate home given the reduced flights and route closures that were happening on a day-by-day basis. I made it home, at a slight financial cost, but intact and unaffected by the pandemic, spending the remainder of my annual leave on blogging about the holiday and sitting out the required home quarantine period of 14-days.

As the pandemic dragged on however, things started to get a little busier as the double-edged sword of working-from-home started to sink in. As now everyone is doing it their own way, the boundaries between work and personal life began to blur as e-mails would turn up at odd hours begging for a prompt response. Furthermore, dire circumstances at the university also meant that academics who usually are research heavy needed to help out with teaching duties, increasing the workload significantly. This made sense in some ways as some research activities were curtailed by restrictions intended to protect the university and the public, but in return, the increase in administrative paperwork necessary to regain approval for these activities and for returning to site at work offset all of the time savings.

I also began to be involved part-time with another project which would have commenced a lot earlier if it were not for pandemic delays, ultimately stretching myself beyond the normal. Even with that, I tried my best to keep up with my regular “hobby” program of element14 RoadTest reviews and blogging and the result is a tired, stressed and perhaps overstretched Gough.

In spite of this, the pandemic did have a few silver linings. One of which is the sheer number of events converted to free, open attendance including conferences and MOOCs. I spent many hours going through Udemy, Coursera and LinkedIn Learning courses amassing something like 50 certificates for courses which I found interest, all without any